Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-10-29
HINTS ABOUT POULTRY.
SeasOnable for Their Proper Care an,
Improvement.


Don't neglect the gravel box. Half a
meal well digested is better than a feast
without teeth.
" Kill two birds with one stone.' Prune
your apricot trees now, and feed the green
branches to the poultry and pets
Keep the roosting places of the chicks
clean, feed only as much soft feed or scraps
as they will eat up clean. Keep the drink
ing vessels filled with pure water, and
clean them every day, and you will not be
bothered with gapes.
The heat of summer is past the fowls
have about all completed melting and are
laying. The roosts, yards, nest-boxes, and
in fact everything connected with the
poultry yards should have thorough over
hauling before the heavy winds set in.
Brush crude petroleum over roosts and
into cracks where lice find refuge Sprinkle
the floors with carbolized water clean up
all filth about the yards, and fill up all
holes where water may stand, so as to thor
ough,y drain the yards.
Early hatched pullets are now LAYING.
and will continue to shell out all winter if
well managed. Remember that pullets
are still growing besides producing eggs,
and require more food than old hens. Yard
them separately, for if allowed to run to-
gether the old stock will become too fat or
the pullets too lean.
If the cockerels are all kept in one in
closure they will grow up without becom-
ing quarrelsome, and are altogether easier
to manage. The culls may be taken out
and sold or eaten, but cockerel should
never be returned to yard after being
out for even 4 day, as there will very
likely be war in camp.
October is good month to hatch
chicks, provided that the breeding stock
is in good health, and the chicks may be
protected from the winter rains. If the
above conditions are present, the chicks
will thrive, and all culls may be sold by
January at a good price. Fall Matched
chicks are much to be preferred to sum
mer matches, as they hatch better and are
much easier to care for with little extra
preparation.
Douglas mixture seems to stand the test
Of time remarkably well. One of the best
breeders on this coast informs us that he
knows of nothing to equal it as 4 tonic
during the melting season. He gives it
to his fowls twice or three times each
week, mixed with their soft food 1t is
easily prepared as follows: Dissolve eight
ounces of copperas in one gallon of water,
and add one-half fluid ounce of sulphuIic
vessel, and use as wanted.
Alfalfa and apricot leaves make first-claSs
green food for poultry, and, in fact, any of
the domestic animals or pets. Alfalfa is
cheaper and easier to raise than any gar
den truck" that we know of, and is green
the year round, while the apricot prlmings
(cut any time after the fruit IS Off come
at time when other green feed is excep-
tionally scarce Give them a trial and re-
port.
Light and active hens make the best
mothers, quite a number of poultry writers
to the contrary, Notwithstanding. While
setting they are less liable to break the
eggs by their weight, and after the chicks
are Matched they will 'rustle" around and
find insect food for the brood, at the same
time giving them exercise, which to all
young growing things means health and
growth.
Do not discard good mothers on account
of their age. When you find hen that
raises you one or two fine brOods in a
season, no matter Of what brood she is try
her another season, and if she still con-
tinues to serve you faithfully in this direc-
ton, even though she is the veriest scrub,
mark her in some way and keep her on,
year after year, until she either dies of old
age or disgraces herself in some unpardon-
able manner. We have now little hen
that is a cross of Houdan on a dung-hill
fowl, then crossed again on the Plymouth
Rock. She is small in size, Plymouth
Rock in color, but has the Houdan top
knot or crest. She is over seven years
old, yet she is as spry as a pullet, and viii
fight any hen on the place-if not accus-
toned to being with them-and no hen on
the place has laid any better, set any
steadier or reared larger brood of
healthy, hearty chicks than she.-Cdlitor-
ma Cdckler.